From the Northeast - the Story of a Man and His Hound Fit for Hollywood

Great to return from the long weekend to some good rail-trail news. Here's a few things out of the Northeast that were in my email box this morning...

The city of Oneida in upstate New York is making great strides in its plan to convert more miles of disused rail-line and expand its city-wide rail-trail network. The Oneida Improvement Committee is currently raising money and support to improve 10.75 miles of existing rail-trails and connect them through additional miles of rail corridor to form a triangular loop.

"The rails were a big part of our history; they pretty much developed Oneida into what it is now," Recreation Director Luke Griff told the Utica Observer Dispatch. "So we're kind of bringing back the past a little bit."

To the east, planners have been able to put an approximate timeline on an eagerly awaited extension of the Cape Cod Rail-Trail in Massachusetts. Currently running 22 miles along former Old Colony Railroad right-of-way on the Cape Cod peninsula, for many years communities to the west have been eager to connect to this remarkable rail-trail that has attracted visitors to the area for decades.

According to an article in Barnstable's The Register, if the Cape Cod Bike Path Task Force can secure the funding and planning approvals it needs, construction on the first section of an eastward extension could start as early as 2014.

And finally, a terrific yarn that comes to its lovely conclusion along the Heritage Rail Trail County Park in York, Pennsylvania. The friendship between Arthur Glatfelter Jr. and his dog, Pal, survived years of World War and separation. Their surprise reunion on a beach in the South Pacific puts Hollywood screenwriters to shame.

More than 60 years later, the City of York and local residents unveiled a sculpture of Pal alongside the Heritage Rail-Trail (right), to honor local veterans and the special contribution Glatfelter had made to his community.

Glatfelter passed away last week. In honoring the prominent citizen, the York Daily Record reflected on the statue of Pal that has become a local landmark. (Reminds me of the Dog on the Tuckerbox statue I used to love visiting as a kid back in Australia).